Many films, books, games, and commentaries these days are saturated with apocalyptic themes, and not without reason. But most of these cultural products seem stuck in warning mode, as if we can’t get past shouting at each other: ‘Time to act!’

The premise of this workshop is that personal and planetary deaths may be intertwined. In other words, grief and anxiety about different deaths – our own, that of others, and, beyond that, traditions, other species, loved places, habitats and ecosystems – may be mutually reinforcing, and contributing to a collective paralysis. How might we begin, then, to process this grief and anxiety? Is it possible to ‘face the worst’ ahead of time, and thereby, in a strange way, gain strength and determination to act? In this workshop we will be putting together our heads and our hearts, hoping to bring about some shift, where needed, in how we each relate to the future.